Posted by Los Angeles, CA – Tyga came under fire earlier this month for his “Ay Caramba” video, with some in the Mexican community taking offence to the video’s stereotypical imagery.
On Thursday (July 28), T-Raww issued an apology for the Collin Tilley-directed video during a discussion with L.A. Leakers co-hosts Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk, as well as Gil Tejada from the American Cholo podcast.
“When I dropped the video, I wasn’t in L.A., I was in Europe. And then I started seeing a lot of people offended by it and I was kinda confused,” Tyga began. “That’s why I didn’t respond. I tried to do my research a little bit. I tried to ask a lot of the people that I grew up with that are Mexican.”
Tyga pointed out he’s paid homage to Mexican culture in the past with songs like “Go Loko,” and while the “Ay Caramba” video was intended to capture different aspects of wider Latin culture in a “creative,” Nutty Professor-inspired way, the rapper apologized for causing offence.
“I’ve always done Latin records,” he continued. “When I’ve done something that was a Mexican record like ‘Go Loko,’ I wrote that song and I was like, this song is literally for the Mexicans I grew up with… I want to pay homage to them. I think with ‘Ay Caramba,’ I wasn’t thinking, like, this is for the Mexicans I grew up with.
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“At the end of the day, I’m not Mexican, so I can’t say what Mexicans are offended by or not. But I know I had no intentions of offending anybody. For one, I want to apologize to the Mexican community and my fans that are Mexican. I have a lot of Latin fans that are Puerto Rican, Dominican, that probably weren’t offended by this video. But my Mexicans fans in L.A., there definitely was some that were offended.”
According to TMZ, Tyga has decided to delete the music video altogether. The “Ay Caramba” video arrived on July 8 and boasts nearly five million views on YouTube, where it’s been switched to only private viewing.